Reference and Essence (Studies in Analytic Philosophy) by Nathan U. Salmon

by Nathan Salmon

In this new edition of an important work in the philosophy of language, Nathan U Salmon, one of the leading proponents of what has come to be called the new or causal theory of reference, presents his latest thinking on this promising area of study.

Genres: Philosophy

Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

Reviews

[Raymond Lam · Rating 5 out of 5]

This work by Salmon is an early original work on Direct theory of reference.  Not only does this work offer a lucid and clear reconstruction  of the Direct theory. The topic, the derivability of essentialism from the Direct theory, is original and important which connects the relationship between semantics and metaphysics. 

The first chapter offers a clear reformulation. Salmon suggested that an orthodox descriptional theory can be mixed with Direct theory if the descriptions contain singular terms referring to individuals. He calls such descriptions relationally descriptional.  Salmon also distinguishes rigid designator from Kripke into two different kinds. The first kind is persistent rigid designator which is an expression that designates the same individual in all possible worlds which the individual exists but designates nothing in all possible worlds which the individual does not exist. The second kind is obstinate designator which is an expression which designates the same individual in all possible worlds whether the individual exists in them or not.
The second chapter offers a formulation of Direct Theory for general terms. Common nouns such as tiger and water which are names to natural kinds can directly refer to natural kinds and  behave like proper names referring to individuals in such a way that a Direct theory of reference can be extended to common nouns.  Chapter three develops necessary a posterior identity statements. Identity statements such as "Hesperus is Phosphorus" and "Cicero is Tully" are posterior and conceptually contingent but are metaphysical necessary. Other examples originally from Putnum, Kripke and Donnellan "water is H2O", "Gold is the element with atomic number 79", and "Tiger is carnivorous" are descriptions about natural kinds. These natural kind sentences are not true just in virtue of their sense but are  a posterior  based on the composition nature  of the natural kinds in the world.  The composition also raises the issue of essentialism of natural kind.

Natural kind terms of Putnum are discussed in elaborated modal logic and possible world semantics in the following chapter. Putnum's semantic externalism of natural kind terms  are not just about the general properties grasped as semantic intension in the head but are determined by the nature of the substance in the actual world, its extension, in any possible world in which the instances of the natural kind exists. In this reconstruction of putnum's thesis, a very elaborated cross-world possible world semantics formalisation is provided to analyse Putnum's thesis.

The subsequent chapter provides a Donnellan's restatement of Putnum's thesis according to which descriptive statments about natural kind such as water is H2O is metaphysically  necessary a posterior due to ostensive definition. However Salmon goes onto show that nontrivial essentialism based on the compositional structure of natural kinds stands on it's own independent of the direct theory of reference. 

The structure of the book is well conceived and the argument is technically meticulous but easy to follow from the thorough explanations over the technical points.  This book is an indispensable tool for studying the Direct Theory of reference.